A Detailed Project Description

Banaa: the Sudan Educational Empowerment Network seeks to address the challenges Sudan faces by empowering a vanguard of young Sudanese to seek peace from a long-term, big-picture perspective. The scholars, who represent diverse Sudanese regions and ethnicities, will be both broad and deep in their expertise: broad in their grasp of the dynamics of Sudanese politics; deep in their knowledge of one or two professional fields relevant to the promotion of peace and sustainable development in Sudan. They will have extensive connections within global humanitarian networks.

This section will describe specific objectives and tasks needed to bring this vision to fruition. Additionally, it will explain the unique contributions Banaa can make in the fields of conflict resolution, sustainable development, and international education.

Objective A: Developing a pool of qualified Sudanese applicants who can demonstrate strong commitment to the cause of peace in Sudan.

The Banaa Staff has developed a comprehensive, scalable application based on the Common Application used by 315 US colleges and universities. Banaa's supplement to this document includes essay questions to probe a candidate's commitment to peace (revealed through work experience with humanitarian organizations and reflections on life-experience) as well as ideas for achieving comprehensive peace over the long-term in Sudan.

For the pilot program, applications have been sent to over 2,400 contacts identified through the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs as well as Banaa partners in the Sudanese-US Diaspora community. These contacts are well placed to share the application with native Sudanese who have worked as local subcontractors for development and relief organizations in Sudan and are thus interested in and experienced at occupations related to Banaa's core mission. Within one month of releasing the application, Banaa staff received more than 15 full applications and many additional inquiries from South Sudan and recent Sudanese exiles in Uganda.

Working with the Academy for Educational Development (AED) in the coming year, Banaa seeks to devise more systematic means of recruiting applicants, specifically by identifying and training program liaisons already working in Sudan. A major aim of this undertaking is to increase the number of ethnicities and regions represented in the network. We believe this will enhance both the legitimacy of the program and its effectiveness in catalyzing peace and development operations throughout the country.

Admissions officers at the George Washington University have agreed to special protocol for admitting Banaa candidates: as nearly all live far from testing centers, SAT and TOEFL requirements will be waived so long as students can demonstrate (through secondary school exam transcripts, recommendations, and work experience) competence in English language and general academic disciplines. The Banaa Board of Advisors (detailed under the final heading in this section) will rank the candidates in order of promise, and the University will admit the highest ranking student(s) it deems academically qualified. GWU's Associate Director of Admissions for international applicants has agreed to serve as point-person on this issue and will advise officials at other universities on procedures for selecting scholars.

Objective B: Design transportation logistics and plans for scholars to acquire passports and visas.

Banaa has drawn from several sources for transportation plans. The UN Joint Logistics Centre (UNJLC) has provided reliable contacts for transporting Banaa Scholars from throughout South Sudan and Janob Darfur to the Juba Airport, from which they can fly to Cairo or Nairobi and on to the United States. UNJLC has additionally provided contingency plans for transit during the rainy season. Banaa partners from the Sudanese-US Diaspora as well as experts on the Banaa Board of Advisors have vetted these plans, which are detailed in Appendix __ of this report. AED can offer additional support, coordinating transportation once the program grows beyond four new students per year.

Upon admission to GWU, Banaa Scholars receive a J-1 visa with support from the University's International Services Office. This visa, which offers a foreign citizen four years' stay in the US, is not easily renewable and is thus a part of Banaa's multi-pronged approach to preventing brain-drain (described further under the "new contributions" heading of this section). While delays are possible due to Sudan's restricted status in US immigration law, Banaa has received promises of support from the offices of Senators Bill Nelson and Sam Brownback in expediting requests to the INS. On the issue of passports and emigration, Sunday Taabu, a counselor at the Mission of the Government of South Sudan in the United States, has agreed to expedite requests to the Immigration Directorate in Juba.

Objective C: Build a network of colleges and universities willing to endow Banaa Scholarships

Banaa has a two-tier outreach strategy: grassroots and top-down. Students at various universities lobby their administrators to endow scholarships, while the president of GWU and others send letters of support to key officials at campuses on which campaigns are ongoing. Through student-to-student engagement, Banaa campus groups have already formed at Tufts, Notre Dame, Emory, Swarthmore, Boston University, the University of Florida, the New College of Florida, and the University of South Carolina. The president of Mills College in California has agreed to fund a Banaa Scholar starting in 2009.

The centerpiece of Banaa's grassroots strategy is a comprehensive "how-to kit," comprised of nine documents to guide interested students through the Banaa concept as well as steps of forming a campus group, connecting with local Sudanese Diaspora, and lobbying administrators to offer support.

The outreach effort will be enhanced significantly in the coming year through collaboration with STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, with whom we signed a formal agreement in November 2007. STAND, which is comprised of 612 college and secondary school chapters, has agreed to advertise Banaa on its website and at its six annual conferences. In summer 2009, Banaa will invite up to 15 campus coordinators to Washington, DC for training on the Banaa mission, logistics, and expansion strategy. These students will continue collaboration through forums and interactive programs on the Banaa website. Many coordinators will interact with one another and the Scholars during the annual Scholars Summit in Washington, DC (described under objective D). The overall aim of these activities is to create a distributed network that expands organically.

In addition to the abovementioned endorsement letter from GWU President Steven Knapp, the top-down outreach campaign will be anchored in support from Banaa's Board of Advisors, professors at various universities who agree to serve as academic mentors for Banaa Scholars, NGO partners, and former GWU President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg. Each may reach out to university administration contacts as well as trustees and benefactors of various universities.

Objective D: Train Scholars in professional fields crucial to lasting peace in Sudan; engage Scholars in peace studies and build understanding of global civil society networks.

Banaa views the tasks of peacemaking and sustainable development as deeply interrelated: peace can be achieved only when the grievances of marginalized populations are met; it can only be sustained when perilous trends like desertification and epidemic are kept in check. Thus, each Banaa scholar gains one or two specific skills or areas of expertise to address issues that cause or exacerbate conflict. Issues include but are not limited to:

  • Revenue sharing from extractive industries
  • Environmental degradation
  • Interfaith and intersect dialogue
  • Water management
  • Primary and secondary education
  • Public health and access to medicines

Based on initial interests and aptitudes, Scholars choose a major that will significantly enhance their ability to work on a key issue. For example, a student interested in adaptation to desertification and drought in Darfur or Kordofan may concentrate on environmental science, engineering, or geology with an overall aim of exploring underground water reserves or coordinating water management councils. A faculty mentor on the Scholar's campus will offer advice on selecting a concentration and choosing classes.

The faculty mentors, recruited by campus groups or professors on other participating campuses, help to design a core curriculum tailored to their particular university. The common denominators of Banaa core curricula on all campuses include courses on peace studies, international politics, and nonprofit management. Faculty mentors or other interested professors are encouraged to initiate a Banaa-oriented seminar, focused on the history of modern Sudan as well as problems and prospects in the peace process.

Complementing Banaa's academic program is the annual Scholars Summit, held over the summer months in Washington, DC. A key aim is to build deep rapport between Sudanese individuals of diverse backgrounds, who would otherwise meet only as adversaries. Banaa Scholars attending various universities live together at GWU while interning or apprenticing at NGOs, intergovernmental organizations, or university laboratories. Each Scholar will be assigned an NGO mentor with expertise in her/his area of specialization. Scholars will also participate in peacemaking and teambuilding activities and participate in group seminars to build breadth of knowledge on Sudanese, African, and International politics.

The Success of the Scholars Summit rests on the development of Banaa's NGO coalition. Senior staffers at the Genocide Intervention Network, the World Resources Institute, the Save Darfur Coalition, RESULTS, New Sudan Generation, and the International Crisis Group have expressed interest in mentoring Scholars. Mentors offer support to Scholars not only by helping them link theory to practice but also by helping them build personal networks of experts in professional communities throughout the world.

Objective E: Build a network of Sudanese Diaspora partners

Banaa has built partnerships with the Damanga Coalition for Peace and Justice, the Darfur Peace and Development Organization, the Sudan Peace Advocate Network, Nuba Survival, the Gurtong Peace Project, as well as numerous individuals in the Sudanese-American Diaspora. The aim of these partnerships is two-fold: (1) to provide a support network for scholars seeking to adjust to life in the US and (2) to enrich the political life of the Diaspora by engaging it in advocacy programs and connecting it with future liaisons in Sudan (the Banaa Scholars). A key element of Banaa's outreach strategy is prioritizing campaigns at universities in places with large Diaspora populations. The Banaa staff in DC will introduce and encourage interaction between campus groups and Sudanese-American communities.

Objective F: Guarantee Scholars post-graduation employment; ensure that Scholars are working directly toward peace and/or sustainable development in Sudan

One important way Banaa seeks to prevent brain-drain is by guaranteeing Scholars excellent positions in Sudan immediately upon graduation. To this end, the project for the Return of Qualified Sudanese (RQS), run by the Government of South Sudan, has agreed to provide Banaa access to its database of open positions in education, health services, infrastructure development, and community relations throughout marginalized parts of the country. RQS identifies skilled members of the Sudanese Diaspora willing to return home to work for peace and development; it provides for their transportation and assists with their reintegration into Sudanese society.

Beyond RQS, Scholars may rely on their own contacts made over the course of their internships, Diaspora contacts, or Banaa mentors. As many Banaa Scholars will have likely worked as subcontractors for NGOs or UN agencies prior to their selection, some may return to their previous employers in managerial positions.

Graduated Scholars would be an invaluable resource for many NGOs seeking to operate in a complex foreign context.

Through a procedure similar to that of the Truman Scholarship Foundation, which stipulates that its scholars must work in public service for at least three of the seven years following completion of a program, Banaa requires and verifies that candidates return to Sudan and work toward peace and development objectives. Scholars are required to submit information on their employment to Banaa's national office for seven years following graduation from the program.

Those who refuse to return to Sudan in order to pursue employment not related to peace and/or sustainable development are required to repay any funds received along with interest, so that another Scholar may receive support. On a case-by-case basis, scholars may defer public service employment in order to attend graduate school outside Sudan.

New Contributions

The Banaa Network presents six unique contributions to the Sudan movement and the field of education-based development: (1) Empowering survivors of Sudan's conflicts with skills and resources to directly address grievances that cause or exacerbate war; (2) Enabling these individuals to strengthen civil society in their country by studying with global civil society leaders and coordinating with international humanitarian organizations; (3) Diversifying the Sudan peace movement in the US by engaging survivors of conflict; (4) Integrating the Sudanese Diaspora into strategic peacemaking; (5) Safeguarding against brain-drain by: (a) bolstering participants desire to work for peace; (b) offering scholarships contingent on public service; (c) guaranteeing post-graduation employment in Sudan; (6) Because Banaa invests in young people with leadership potential from throughout Sudan, the program offers the ancillary benefit of strengthening future ties between the United States and an important East African government.

Staff and Advisory Board

Banaa was designed by George Washington University students, who have been heavily engaged in the Darfur movement since 2004. The Project Director, Robert Paul Churchill, is a professor and former chair of the department of Philosophy at GWU. He has taught peace studies throughout his career and written extensively on global ethics.

Professor Churchill will be responsible for hiring and supervising Banaa's staff director, who will in turn coordinate the efforts of the Academy for Education Development, part-time staff and student volunteers to achieve the objectives of Banaa's National Office. These include:

  1. Advertising the program in Sudan and building a diverse, qualified applicant pool
  2. Managing the selection process
  3. Coordinating transportation and logistics
  4. Recruiting campus coordinators (in conjunction with STAND) to endow scholarships at additional colleges and universities
  5. Coordinating curricula at various colleges and universities
  6. Training and supporting campus coordinators through the US
  7. Organizing the annual Scholars' Summit in Washington, DC
  8. Expanding the NGO coalition of the Banaa Network
  9. Matching Scholars with NGO mentors
  10. Matching Scholars with employers (in conjunction with the RQS)
  11. Coordinating campus chapters in efforts to engage local Sudanese Diaspora
  12. Drafting contingency plans for travel, family emergencies, and unforeseen political circumstances
  13. Attaining long-term solvency through annual university contributions, government funding and private support.